Review: Controlled Choice forum

I am a bit overwhelmed with swirling thoughts at the moment, so forgive any unorganized thoughts. I wanted to get this out while it was still fresh.

The biggest problem with this forum is that it raises a lot of questions but answers few of them. Not necessarily because of any ill-intent, but rather due to the time crunch and the fact that all questions are funneled to one person. Also, there is a lack of any pre-answered questions (ala, FAQ); if the District has been doing this for 13 years, I am surprised there is not a more formal method of addressing what must surely be common questions by this point in time. To wit, a number of references were made to a “blue information booklet”. I did not receive such a booklet, nor was I made aware of one when I walked in. And I forgot to grab one on my way out. =) How about putting them in all the chairs or at the end of the pews?

I appreciate Dr. Alves; talking one-on-one or in a small group, I think he shines. However, his prepared presentation was a bit dry and rambled a bit, using vague references that just begged for questions. Plus, there were parents with children in the audience – they are coming to learn about schools. The kids were obviously utterly bored. I do not blame them, and I am glad I did not bring my daughter. *grin* I think it would have been more appriopriate to feature Dr. Alves in a forum specifically dealing with the background and inner workings of Controlled Choice, and have the school information session be totally different.

Ok, so, Dr. Alves. He is a great guy, and I love how he has a heart for “vulnerable” (his word) children, those that are “at risk”. I assumed he meant “at risk” of a poor educational setting; he often referred to the single working mom with 3 or 7 kids. It is these types of situations that Alves seems to want to create equity for. And I am a big proponent of any such plan, especially as Alves wants to be fair but realizes the reality that not everyone is going to like this approach. For example, some people, noteably middle and upper class residents, are going to want “good” neighborhood schools – their focus may not be on diversity. I also really like how Dr. Alves emphasized the fact that overchosen schools are not necessarily the best schools. This is a point I dearly hope to make whenever I present numbers in my own posts. Numbers are just numbers. If I tell you box A has 4 jimberwhimples and box B has 7, which one is better? He was intentionally gave us (a smaller group of us) an anecdotal story of two schools in Cambridge where the underchosen school was exhibiting a vast educational acceleration, as measured by standardized state tests, and the overchosen school was essentially flat. Again, we could argue about standardized tests being merely numbers as well, but that is not my interest nor area of expertise.

Some things I learned. 82% of the total capacity for each school is reserved for Proximity A applicants. This was not exactly clear to me, made less clear by the fact that some schools retain children (which pre-empts choice) in addition to 18% of capacity being reserved for non-sibling Proximity B. Do siblings get thrown into the Proximity A pool by default? Maybe those numbers are rounded or approximate goals. Several factors are combined (aka, calculated) with the Free Meal indicator; family income, number of adults in the household and parental educational attainment. In fact, I got the impression that these other factors were weighted heavily so that the “lottery” could be leveraged to create equity for “vulnerable” children. I also learned that all first choice applicants who do not get their first choice are automatically put on a waiting list; I had assumed something like that in my charts, but never had it confirmed until now. Lastly, Dr. Alves mentioned that he initalizes the lottery process with a random number.

What is that random number? What is the formula? What are the weights associated with that formula? Several of us asked Dr. Alves this on numerous occasions, and I dearly hope he upholds his promise to give those numbers to us. I will be bugging him and keeping him accountable. =)

Oh, one other thing I learned. For the sake of the lottery, Carrie Busey now has an official Prairie Fields address. Ironically, I heard 3 different addresses; 303, 304 and 306 Prairie Rose Lane. Given that my address is odd and I live on the west side of the street, I am banking on an even number for Carrie Busey’s Prairie Fields site. However, the big news is that this means, as of now, anyone who lives within 1.5 miles of 304/306 Prairie Rose Lane will have Proximity A to Carrie Busey. Yes, starting now.

This is already raising questions. What I am interested in is the analysis that Dr. Alves and others have done concerning the shift in the cultural and socio-economic makeup of Carrie Busey. Over time, the population of Carrie Busey will transition towards Savoy residents and away from west-central Champaign. Parents of children who live near the current Carrie Busey building will have the option of filling in empty seats at nearby schools if they wish to not transport their child to Prairie Fields. That sounds a bit odd to me. I hope they come up with a better way to transition those parents. How is this going to affect fairness? How will it affect equity?

I put up the questions I heard from parents during the Q&A time. Again, I really want to see a better FAQ. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Sandra Duckworth and am very excited about the prospect of working with her to develop information we can throw up on a website; numbers in particular, but charts, graphs, and much better explanations and examples of what Controlled Choice is. Heck, even the forumla that Dr. Alves will give us. 😉 Dr. Alves even suggested a video (ala real estate “virtual tours”). Seriously, we have been doing this for 13 years? Part of me is starting to realize why; Unit 4 is pinching pennies, and nobody from the community has stepped up to help add spice and flavor to the website. For all intents and purposes, the Unit 4 staff has prioritized other aspects of school administration, and for the most part, they are doing their jobs very well.

Ok, my brain is starting to shut down. I’ll try to add more later.